Research

At the last meeting of the Cross-party Group on Chronic Pain discussed support for chronic pain patients’ equal rights to access through the NHS, if they wish, at least the Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CAM) recommended by the SIGN guideline on chronic pain management and related findings in the GRIPS Reports. This proposal was unanimously supported and those issues will be discussed as the first item at our next meeting on Tuesday, 24th Feb 2015

Are chronic pain patients who want CAM treatments getting fair access on the NHS? The CPG agreed to members’ requests to discuss this following claims that access was not equal, despite some CAM treatments being approved by the SIGN guidelines on Chronic Pain.

If you are a journalist with an interest in health, complementary and alternative medicine, patients rights and health equality, please get in touch with me for details on

“NICE advises the NHS to be alert to the possibility of drug induced headaches in patients whose headache developed or worsened while they were taking triptans, opioids, ergots, and combination analgesic treatments for 10 days a month or paracetamol, aspirin, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen either alone or in combination for15 or more days a month. Drug induced headaches are five times as common in women as in men.”

With regards to the Scottish Government’s stance that NICE guidelines need to be re-evaluated by SIGN in Scotland (when justifying not accepting NICE guidelines for non-specific lower back pain*) – is the Government going to disregard the latest NICE headache-related guidelines until they can be re-assessed in a few years time? Or is this decision selective? * “NHS QIS have established a Scottish Chronic Pain Steering Group to take forward recommendations in the Getting to GRIPS Report. Part of this work will be to develop a SIGN guideline on aspects of chronic pain management. NICE Clinical Guidelines have no formal status in Scotland” Shona Robison 11/March/2011 (http://bit.ly/CAMNHS-NICEGuideRobKerr)

All over the world people needlessly suffer from many kinds of pain. In Scotland alone the official statistics show that over 900,000 people suffer from chronic pain – that is about 1 in 5 people. These figures mirror the situation in the UK and the rest of the world.

Yet, despite a number of reports and recommendations published throughout a period of many years, very little has been done that has directly and positively affected people in pain.

Scotland is a leading player regarding strategies to promote equal access to existing pain management resources and evaluation but much more needs to be done. More effective tools need to be introduced into the chronic pain management service and more needs to be done to treat rather than just managing pain.

People in pain need action NOW.

The NHS uses only a handful of tools to manage pain. While discussions regarding the effectiveness of alternative treatments (or the lack of) are on-going, people in pain, their families and society in general are suffering right now.

Some people are able to pay for alternative interventions of their choice but others cannot.

This is unjust because pain management is a human right and should be available to all.

Many people feel disempowered regarding their sense of control over their conditions. Many feel hopeless.

We are creating a charitable organisation to offer the choice of drug-free treatments for all.

A pain management organisation run by people afflicted by chronic pain and their supporters for people in pain and their supporters.